I was just at Walmart and went to look at the bikes and bike parts and noticed that mountain bike tires come folded into a small square box, about 6x6x6 inches in diameter. It's been about 4 or 5 years since the last time I looked at bike tires for sale, but I remember tires used to be hung from a rack because it was impossible to fold them like that. What is the deal with these folding tires, are all MTB tires like that now, or are these some kind of low quality tires that I should stay away from? They're obviously made from different material if they can fold like that because I've never seen any MTB tire that maleable.

- i used wire-rimmed 700x27 Speedblends on one of my rides... they're made in the Land of the Rising Sun and came figure-eighted in a small box - super-quality tires with a great colorful ride at a good price (US$19 each from, of all places, target.com)...